The idea of expanding a vital park in downtown Bethesda appears to be losing traction as the Montgomery County Planning Board continues wrangling over details in a new master plan for the area.
At Thursday’s Planning Board work session on the Bethesda Downtown Plan, the board tentatively decided to remove from the plan part of one property that planners had proposed for an expanded Battery Lane Park. The board also sent planning staff back to the drawing board concerning a low-rise office building at 8101 Glenbrook Road that obscures part of the park’s entrance from Woodmont Triangle.
Planners originally proposed recommending that property, home to the offices of an association of blood banks and others, be included as part of an expanded park.
But it’s unclear how Montgomery Parks would acquire the property and Robert Brewer, the attorney representing the office building’s owner, said the owner should be allowed to redevelop the property and not have to give it away for park space.
“I believe it would be a taking,” Brewer told the board. “It’s clearly a taking and would involve a lawsuit that none of us want. Unless the board has the many millions that [are] going to be required to buy this building, instead it should be more pragmatic about the land that it designates for park expansion.”
In a board meeting last June, Brewer estimated the office building property could cost between $8 million and $12 million.
Board Chairman Casey Anderson asked planning staff to work with the property owner to come up with language in the Bethesda Downtown Plan that would allow for more flexibility regarding the property.
The board also expressed opposition to expanding the park to a 0.4-acre section of the Sherwin Williams paint store property across Rugby Avenue from the existing park.
The board also opposed building a road on the edge of the park, something planners recommended to better connect Woodmont Triangle to Battery Lane. Many Battery Lane residents rejected the idea, signing a petition opposing the road and posting fliers in the popular park. But planners maintained the road would be lightly used by vehicles and would only be built if the park was expanded to include more green space.
The board, which had an already scheduled joint meeting with the Board of Education Thursday night, didn’t have time to discuss many of the park and environmental issues in the plan and will take those up in its March 10 work session.
